An Overlooked Cause Of Hospital Death

(CBS)  It's the most common preventable death in the hospital.

"It's staggering to think about the number of patients who have preventable events related to clots in their legs, which eventually become fatal," said Dr. Nick Morrissey, a vascular surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Blood clots that travel to the lungs kill 25,000 Americans every year.

And a new study out in the Lancet says only about half of the hospitalized patients at risk are being treated to prevent them, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports.

LaPook asked former hospital patient Lorelai Fredheim: "Did anybody say to you, 'there's a risk you would get a blood clot?'"

"Not at all," Fredheim said. "Not at all."

She developed a potentially deadly blood clot following minor knee surgery.

"It definitely would have killed me," she said.

Prevention is usually simple. Using compression stockings to help circulation, blood thinners, or just walking around after a procedure.

"I think we're not doing a good enough job and we certainly can do better," Morrissey said. "Just like we address infection control and infection prevention, we should be addressing in a formalized way, prevention of development of clots."

What can you do to keep yourself or your loved ones out of this danger?

If you're in the hospital, LaPook said, get out of bed if you can, and ask your doctor if blood thinners are a good idea.

[beehive21-2009]

Take two asprin if you feel cramps in leg ,cramps go away in 2-3 min.,repeat as necessary .

[jon2012-2009]

frankly6
What do you do? Write one opinion, then post it on every article''''s comment section?
Posted by Emma915 at 11:16 AM : Feb 01, 2008

That''s exactly what he does. And it''s just typical Republican trash, excuse my french.

[abigail70]

Go ahead and support a ban on smoking, Poindexter. Next, consider voting on a ban relating to anything unhealthy you ingest or absorb, because the aforementioned is only the first step. Regarding DVT, I''m glad your wife is well, truly. However, a huge majority of facilities absolutely do everything they can to educate and prevent issues related to blood clots. No, we can''t assume that it''s done in every single hospital in the country, but there''s been an incredible push to prevent these, and the article lies when it infers otherwise.

[aldewitt-2009]

Ozziepooh:

I did not bring up the subject of smoking, I was responding to the rather lame attempt to correlate smoking bans with DVT prophylaxis and nazism, which I found to be a stretch. Someone else raised the issue, I just responded to it.

But, strange as it may seem, DVT is linked to smoking. Smoking damages blood vessels and impairs circulation. A smoking history is an indication of increased risk for DVT.

But you are right about taxes. As long as there are people dumb enough to smoke, I can save a lot of money on taxes. Once they stop, I''ll have to start picking up the tab. Oh well..

[tlparp]

This is not new news. This article is based on a study published in The Lancet, and the study was done in British hospitals. I work in healthcare in a relatively rural area in Virginia, and know that in the past several years there has been a huge push to bring the risk of DVT into the forefront. March is DVT Awareness Month in the US, with many hospitals and health care organizations providing inservices to staff, as well as public service announcements and seminars available to the public. In our health system, there is a DVT protocol, and EVERY patient admitted to the hospital is screened for risk for DVT, and if they meet the criteria, they are started on prophylactic treatment - either compression stockings, meds, or a combination.

[emma915]

frankly6
What do you do? Write one opinion, then post it on every article''s comment section?

[ozziepooh90]

aldewitt ( and everyone else )
first of all this article has nothing to do with smoking so why even bring it up. It is getting so over blown about smoking!!!!! If people want to smoke let them. Fine stop smoking in bar and everywhere else. But when the money stops coming in from smokers, watch out because the government will find something else to tax and/or ban.

[aldewitt-2009]

Oh please! Socialism? Nazism? Give me a break.
This is a story about Deep Venous Thrombosis or DVT. Its a silent and deadly killer and it almost claimed my wife''s life. The little podunk hospital where she was never treated her for the condition even though it is one of the most common complications. Fortunately, through no fault of the hospital, she survived and went on to lead a productive life. But hudreds die every year. I salute the idea that hospitals should be more vigilant in protecting the health of their patients.

And, if you guys understood anything about smoking and health, or health care for that matter, you''d support a total ban on smoking. As a former respiratory therapist who''s seen thousands of lives destroyed by this weed, I can only pity the ignorance that argues for the "right" to smoke. Just checked the constitution: it isn''t in there.

[slim1h2o]

A similar dynamic defined much of NAZI Germany. Nazi Youth manuals proclaimed that %u201Cnutrition is not a private matter!%u201D %u201CGemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz%u201D - essentially, all for one, one for all - was the rallying slogan of the Nazi crackdown on smoking, the first serious anti-tobacco campaign of the 20th century. The argument was that the infirmed were too much of a drain on the SOCIALIST economy.

Posted by frankIy6 at 09:36 AM : Feb 01, 2008

Yup,,,thats exactly what we have become,,Nazi Germany. ......Well said! Seig Heil!!

[deemsnyd]

I work in a small community hospital. I am not in medical care, I work in one of the offices, and even I constantly hear about DVT protocol. This article is good as far as informing patients about DVT, but seems a bit alarmist. If even a small, rural hospital like ours is on top of this, it seems unlikly to me that the title of this piece was meant for anything other than "attention grabbing".